Startup
by GreatLordofPie
Summary: The fate of Brang rests in the outcome of a single phone call. Will Mr. Anderson's triumphs, sacrifices, and mistakes all be in vain? I think you guys would call this a oneshot. Rated T for a bit of language. Based on an RP audition.


**Well, like they say, there's no time like the present to write a fanfiction. Or to join this site. In any case, this is my first fanfic, so don't be afraid to constructively criticize, or otherwise. It won't hurt my feelings ... much. Please enjoy!**

* * *

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

Bill Anderson slowly rapped his knuckles on his desk. Staring at his computer screen with his chin rested on his other hand, he almost exuded disinterest. Occasionally, he would break tempo to take a sip from his "I'm The Boss" mug or to check the time on his cell phone. Yet, despite his apparent apathy, in the forefront of his mind, five little moustachioed figures were in an absolute frenzy.

"I just can't see how this could go well." Sadness sighed as he slid from his chair, falling into a lump underneath the sprawling control panel. "What are the chances that the largest electronics company in the world is going to give a crappy startup a million dollar contract?"

The other emotions weren't fairing too well either. Fear was curled up on his chair, quietly whimpering as he rocked back and forth, occasionally stopping to input a command into the console. Disgust had his head between his legs, positioned just above a (thankfully empty) garbage pail. Joy just sat there, staring at no point in particular with glazed eyes. Even Anger, beneath his aura of authority and strength, couldn't help but worry, rubbing his temples and shutting his eyes, trying to think of a game plan.

"Everything that could've gone wrong the six months has gone so terribly, terribly wrong, and this will be exac-" The somber little emotion mumbled from underneath his chair.

"Not everything." The four others stared at the slack-jawed Joy, startled by the darkness of his tone. Almost as if in a trance, the star slowly clicked away at the keyboard in front of him to recall an incredibly bright memory, all purple, blue, green and red swirling and mingling, with a sliver of golden yellow; not quite at the level of a core, but surely the closest one could get. That was only three weeks ago. When they thought they lost their Riley. That wasn't a great day to be an Anderson's emotion to say the least.

Anger placed his forehead into his hands with exasperation. "Damn it." Still, none of the emotions did anything to stop the vision of the not-so-distant past. They'd learned long ago that trying to stop these sort of sequential reactions ended up being worse for Bill than letting them run their course. The memory ended with a sudden explosion of yellow as he turned towards the sound of their closing front door to see his little girl in front of him, unharmed. With the conclusion, the five emotions once again fell into an agonizing stupor.

 _Tap. Tap. Ta-RIIIIING_

The emotions suddenly broke from the daze that had befallen them, and with a loud shriek, Fear lunged forward and planted his face firmly into a lever in front of him.

Bill nearly fell out of his chair in surprise. He took a few quick, deep breaths, instinctively gulped down some coffee, and reached for the phone.

Anger shot the purple nerve a fierce look before turning to the now revitalized Joy.

"Alright bud, you've got the helm." Joy gave a nod of acknowledgement before going to work. The brick swiveled his chair and faced his purple companion. "Fear, you're in the co-pilot seat."

Fear brought his upper body to attention and threw up a salute. "Sure thing, Boss." He said with that Southern twang of his.

"Sadness, Disgust and I'll keep out of your way unless things go south. He looked at the two remaining emotions for acknowledgement.

"Alright Gentlemen. Let's play ball."

"Hello, Mista Andasin?" A female voice cooed, with a distinct Boston accent

"Hi Sheila." Bill nervously laughed, hoping that she'd only caught the 'laughing' part. "Got some good news for me?"

"I've got Mista Hines ovah from Pear Electronics on the line." Sheila went on cheerfully. "I'll patch him ovah to ya. Good luck"

"Thanks Sheila, I appreciate it." He breathed a sigh of relief as some terrible 'hold' music began to play through the headset.

In Headquarters, a purple and yellow memory was whisked into Short Term by the nervous system.

"Whoohoo! This is a good start people!" Joy called out to his comrades, who nodded in agreement.

"I just hope those workers don't get any bright ideas." Sassed Disgust in reference to the hold music.

No sooner did he say this, line went silent for a split second before reconnecting with the new line. _Here we go._

"Anderson? Hello?" A familiar voice asked inquisitively. Bill had met Hines at a business conference in Chicago, before the move to California. He'd told Bill about the contract.

"Ah. Hines!" The fact that the two had gone drinking together a few times didn't take away from the fact that he was speaking to a Pear executive and project manager. The man that would either make or break him.

The two conversed for a bit with Joy at the helm, and things went rather smoothly, topics ranging from their children to the latest hockey series.

"You know," Fear mused out loud. "This isn't so bad." He leaned back and put his feet up.

"But seriously, Bill." Hines' tone suddenly turned sour, as if he (or his emotions) had flipped some button in his head from 'drinking and sports buddy' to 'businessman who's gonna stomp on your dreams'.

Fear lurched forward with his head at the sides of his head. "Oh, you've _got_ to be kidding me!" and a chorus of 'oh come ons' and various curse words.

"O-oh?" Bill was taken aback by Hines' change in demeanour.

He heard the executive sigh from the other side. "Look Bill. You're a great guy and a good friend…"

HQ was on the verge of collapse at this point. Sadness flopping about in a puddle of his own tears. Fear fell into a fetal position, also landing in the growing pond muttering "Jill's gonna leave us and gonna take Riley, Jill's gonna leave us and gonna take Riley". Disgust was running to the bathroom, trying his darndest to stem the flow of vomit dripping from his mouth. Joy once again entered a catatonic state. Only Anger was still in any state to work the controls, and though it physically pained him, he knew that he couldn't take matters into his own hands.

"...and _Brang!_ has an excellent track record and vision, especially for a startup business…"

Anger had had enough. Standing up in his chair, he mustered all the energy he could find. With a deep, booming voice, he called out to his incapacitated compatriots:

"LISTEN. UP."

Joy snapped back into the present, and Sadness and Fear popped up from the ground. Disgust, having (more or less) successfully reached the toilet, stuck his head through the door.

He took a deep breath and brushed off his shirt, and in spite of the embers crackling on his head, he began to speak with a forceful calmness.

"Gentlemen. We're at yet another crossroads in our life. But this time, we ain't steering."

" _So … Bill. Look, I fought for you up there, I really did..."_

"And that's why we need to stay strong. Fear, you're that you thought that we're going to lose Jill, lose Riley." His shoulders fell ever so slightly. "To be honest, that thought crossed my mind too. Then, I realized that that can never happen, because they need us. We need them." His shoulders perked up again, and the shortest emotion stood taller than the rest. "Which is why we need to stay strong. We need to stay strong. If not for yourselves, do it for Bill. For Jill. Do it for Riley." He jumped down from the chair. "Gentlemen. Lets go."

A new energy filled Headquarters as the five little men jumped into their chairs at the console.

"Alright men, things are about to get real messy. Bring us to Defcon 1. Put up the inhibitors."

"Ooh, not the inhibitors." Fear said under his breath as he jammed inputted his password for the 'Defcon' command.

Sirens began going off in HQ as a huge blast room began to lower from the ceiling to where Anger sat. With his speech, he had rallied his troops, but it took all the energy he had not to explode. Now, his energy was just about gone, and a new, more powerful form was brewing.

"Do me proud, boys." Anger ordered with a smile and a salute just as the thick steel walls came down around him.

" _...but we didn't choose you for the contract."_

That was it. The particles of Anger's body began to reach ridiculous speeds, his head was like the sun. But in his pure, nuclear-fueled rage, he was at peace.

"Ah. I see." Dejected, Bill sighed and placed his head in his free hand. "I- I appreciate that you at least considered me- um, us."

The line went silent for a few moments. "I'm not done Bill."

Bill's very being stopped. "Wh- what?"

"Bill, the execs felt that you didn't fit the guidelines for the myPhone battery development contract." Hines began laughing hysterically. "Bill, they friggin' want _Brang!_ to do the research _and_ development for the next generation of myPad touchscreens! It's two-and-a-half million!"

Bill was speechless. He must have been dreaming, because this was impossible.

Anger, on the verge of nuclear fusion snapped out of his rage and aborted the 'Defcon' sequence. When the blast wall had risen above his eyes, he turned to see an ecstatic Joy, grinning from ear-to-ear (or what would be ears if emotions had any).

"Take the lead, cap-ee-tan!" he laughed.

"You rat bastard!" Bill howled, emphasizing 'rat' and 'bastard'. "You sneaky son of a bitch!"

Hines laughed on the other side. "Congratulations Bill. When I get back to 'Frisco, the beer's on me!"

The two said their farewells, and when Bill hung up the phone, him and his emotions collectively jumped from their seat and let out a huge 'whoop!'

As Bill sat back down in exhilaration, and the emotions hugging and hi-fiving, an extremely bright orb, interspersed with red, purple, blue, and yellow rolled in, and the five amigos watched on as it rolled to a small, circular chamber embedded into Headquarters floor.

Looking over to a picture on his desk with himself, Jill, and Riley sitting on the branch of an ancient, knobbly tree, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed home.

"Hello?" A woman answered. The most beautiful woman in the world.

"Honey," he said in elation, "Do I have some news for you…"


End file.
